It intends to begin running up to five daily additional flights to the US from next summer. The routes to Tokyo, Mumbai, Vancouver and Cape Town will be discontinued as they were "generally speaking" unprofitable, Craig Kreeger, Virgin Atlantic’s chief executive, told Reuters.

Virgin will continue to fly to India and South Africa, however, on its Delhi and Johannesburg routes. It began flying to Tokyo in 1989 and launched Cape Town flights in 1999.

In a statement issued today however, Virgin said its return to those two cities, along with Mumbai and Vancouver, would depend on Heathrow gaining its "long overdue expansion".

The airline also plans to install Wi-Fi on all its aircraft and will open a new Virgin-only lounge in Los Angeles.

The carrier’s founder Richard Branson has a 51 per cent share in the business, which hopes to make an annual profit again by the end of 2014.

Virgin began a joint venture project with Delta in January this year to share transatlantic services, after Delta bought Singapore Airlines' 49 per cent stake in Virgin for $360 million last year.

Since then, Virgin has been attempting to build on its share of the US market. "Transatlantic flying has always been at the heart of our network and our most financially successful region," Virgin Atlantic said on its website.

"Today’s announcement allows us to play to our strengths and focus our network on routes between the UK and US, as well as other critical global destinations that are most important to our customers.

"We are confident that with this strengthened network, our new aircraft and our welcoming people delivering unrivalled service, we have all the right ingredients to achieve long-term success."

The Vancouver service will end on October 11 this year, the statement said, the Cape Town flights on April 26 and 27 next year, and the Tokyo and Mumbai flights on January 31 and February 1 next year.

The proposed new flights include a new daily service from London Heathrow to Detroit; an additional daily service from Heathrow to both New York and Los Angeles; an additional daily service during summer from Heathrow to Atlanta; an additional five-times-a-week flight from Heathrow to San Franciscol and an additional daily winter service from Heathrow to Miami.

Delta Airlines will launch a new daily service between Manchester and New York JFK in summer 2015.

Win one of 40 holidays worth £800,000 Telegraph Travel Awards 2014: vote for your favourite destinations and travel companies for the chance to win one of 40 luxury breaks worth a total of £800,000.